Computer nerds' hot spots for sports nerds

MORE LINKS THAN A CHAIN-LINK FENCE. With an array of features, Chelsea FC has one of the best sports websites on the Internet.

The Internet is arguably the most efficient, up-to-date location to find sports news, information and analysis today. After weeks of extensive, mind-boggling and boring research, The Gazette has created a list of the best sports websites in their respective sub-genres.

Best Canadian website: SportsnetThe best Canadian sports news site is Sportsnet.ca. With breaking news, a wide variety of columnists and an emphasis on hockey, this is the ultimate Canadian sports website. The ability to choose a particular region as a default is amazing, since news and opinions from your region are displayed first.

Best overall website: ESPNThe best overall sports-news website is ESPN.com. It excels in both the opinion and news aspects of reporting. Breaking news stories are commonly found here first and are quickly followed by insightful analysis from a diverse selection of columnists.

The best sports columnist is also found on ESPN. Bill Simmons is a controversial, groundbreaking writer who specializes in basketball and football. He writes from a fan’s point of view rather than a reporter’s and his long blogs are biased, insightful, funny and full of random pop-culture references.

Best Recruitment website: RivalsRivals.com is hands-down the best recruitment website. Focusing on American high school graduate recruits in football (and basketball to a lesser degree), the site ranks each recruit by position. Though much of the information is accessible only to members, the player rankings alone make the site a worthwhile stop for any college fan.

Best league website: NBAAll professional sports leagues have impressive websites, but the best is NBA.com. With easily accessible scores, highlights, team pages, statistics, standings and analysis, the average fan should look no further than this site for a daily overload of basketball information. It’s no surprise NBA.com is the most visited sports website online.

Best fantasy website: YahooFor all you fantasy nuts out there, the best fantasy website is Fantasysports.yahoo.com. Though other sites offer similar services in other sports, Yahoo has free, effective, widely used leagues for every major sport. With so many usernames and passwords already crammed into our heads, the ease of use alone makes this site a winner. When you’re logged into your fantasy account, your relevant fantasy information is also displayed more prominently on the main Yahoo sports news site.

Best videos: TSNFor those with even mediocre Internet speeds, a highlight of online sports coverage is video capabilities. The best site for this is Broadband.tsn.ca/tsn. Copyright can be problematic but, since TSN has rights to offer highlights offline, it can do so online too. For this reason it has the best highlights and the widest variety.

Best team website: Chelsea Football ClubWith apologies to North American professional team websites, top honours belong to Chelsea FC, at Chelseafc.com. Its flash graphics and numerous options let users navigate through the site quickly, and with no menus, finding any particular column is simple. Most importantly, it looks sweet.